LIFE OF THE MARLOWS: A TRUE STORY OF FRONTIER LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS AS RELATED BY THEMSELVES

Ouray: W. S. Olexa Publisher, n.d. [1930]. 100pp. Revised by William Rathmell. Original stiff gray printed wrappers. Second edition after the exceedingly rare 1892 original. Very fine, crisp copy (appears to be unread). Adams, One-Fifty 100: “The first edition of this work is exceedingly rare and the second is quite scarce. The chapters following Chapter XVIII are misnumbered XIV, XV, and XVI. The mistake is repeated in the revised edition, in which new material has been added and changes made in the latter part of the book. In these books the Marlows tell their side of the trouble they had with the law.” Howes, U.S. Iana M295: “Five respected, but nomadic, brothers caught in a conspiracy concocted by a Texas sheriff, had to shoot it out with the county’s entire male population. Only the two writing the story survived.” After one Marlow brother killed a popular sheriff and was, in turn, killed by bounty hunters, the other four brothers were arrested as accessories and jailed. Angry citizens ambushed the Marlows during a transfer to another jail killing three of them. This incident inspired the movie, Sons of Katie Elder starring John Wayne. An exceptionally nice copy of a book rarely offered in this edition.